This year’s edition of the Tour de France, 2014, had one of the weirdest places to start: Passage du Gois, a natural, periodically flooded passage, which leads to the island of Noirmoutier in France. From there on out, the peloton endured three weeks of racing. As always the race ended in Paris.
“Welcome to La Grande Boucle“, said the commentator. I welcomed him on my home trainer on a rainy day.
As usual and every, le Tour saw the best cyclists clash, and offered a set for those daring and fit enough to compete. Big favourite was the winner of last year and this year’s Giro d’Italia winner, Chris Froome. The british-kenyan rider from Team Sky put in quite a ride in Italy two months ago, but besides that hasn’t shown too much this year. Clearly the man to beat at Grand Tours?
Up against him were a formidable equipe of renowned contenders. Both his Giro competitors Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali started, as well as last year’s Tour second Nairo Quintana, alongside his teammate Alejandro Valverde, who won a total of 3 UWT stage races this year.
Much more interesting was the lineup of sprinters though. The list included the man of domination: Marcel Kittel. He claimed several stage wins at the Giro already, and was the guy to beat at last year’s Tour. Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel have the experience though, and certainly some of the fastest legs in the peloton. However still, the hottest card for the green jersey was Cannondale’s Peter Sagan. He may not be the fastest man, but he sure knows where to score. I helped him much throughout the early season campaign, but I doubt I’d be much help to him here. Certainly those finishes don’t suit me yet.
Our team saw a line-up consisting of the captains Peter Sagan and two stage winner Damiano Caruso. There were also Elia Viviani, Daniele Ratto, und Marco Marcato involved as helpers in the sprints, while Guillaume Boivin, Paolo Longo Borghini, Alessandro De Marchi and Kristjan Koren rounded off the squad.
First Week A Slow Start For Greater Things Sprint finish at the first stage up Mont des Alouettes:
Greipel comes rushing from behind
The first week was traditionally a bit of a slow start for GC ambitions, but offered still some interesting finishes. Particularly stage 4, which saw an uphill battle between Gilbert and Sagan, which was one by the lucky third though, Daniel Moreno. Mostly throughout the week Edvald Boasson Hagen had the honours of wearing the yellow jersey, after Team Sky won the team time trial on stage 2.
Marcel Kittel as well as Peter Sagan disappointed in the sprints so far. While our Slovakian superstar Sagan scored some nice podium places here and there, Kittel was nowhere near his topform from the Giro. Greipel took 3 stages, Cavendish two. Quite a battle between those two and Peter Sagan lost quite some ground for the glory of the green jersey in the first week.
sutty - sounds like Shonak needs to bone up on his geography!
Looks like Basso is past the days of winning a Giro, although 11th ain't bad. Caruso (12th) + a stage win makes it a decent GT for Cannondale. Looked like a fun Giro with multiple GC changes with the great competition.
Great result in California for Moser, keeps the Americans happy I suppose!
1) What about the Slovak NC?
2) Story has advanced pretty quickly any simulating going on?
@baia: Thanks mate. Yeah, 10th for Sagan in Switzerland is actually pretty good.
@The Rider: Thanks. I actually played nearly every stage of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France since PCM 2013 is rather new for me and I was excited to see Grand Tours in action (not particularly impressed though, weird AI sometimes). Those reports have been on my harddrive for some time now. I also took quite a lot of screenshots. However, I think if I reported on them, it'd only slow down the story and kill interest in it. Thus honestly, I want to get them over with but still report on them. I think I'll need to find better ways in the future though.
Edited by Shonak on 31-03-2014 20:00
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Second Week Sagan stranded amidst the Spanish Armada
The second week increased drastically the difficulty of le Tour. With 2 hill stages and 3 mountain stages later on, it was sure that the set of main participants would change from the sprinters to the mountain-men. Only Peter Sagan could hold up with them though as he scored various podium finishes as well finally a stage win (on stage 10), and thereby took the green jersey from Greipel’s shoulders.
Throughout the week, there was a sheer domination of the Spaniards though. While Alberto Contador outsprinted(!) Sagan and Kreuziger on the finish up to Super-Besse Sancy (how embarrassing for Sagan!), his countryman Valverde took 3(!) stage wins with ease and of course also claimed the yellow jersey for himself.
Valverde’s showcase of excellency proved to be merciless. Valverde profited from the work of Kastusha and Cannondale on stage 9 and attacked together with Gilbert and D. Martin, both of them didn’t stand a chance against him in the finale. He also took Dupont’s stage win away up to Luz Ardiden, merely meters from the finish line. Quite a defeat for the french, who was in the breakaway alongside Laurens Ten Dam all day. But Valverde didn’t stop there.
The next day, this time in the yellow jersey, he outsprinted everybody in the finish in Lourdes. A small group had formed itself, including Sagan and Cancellara, who formed the BOTD, and over the only HC.cat climb of the day, Valverde and Contador exploded the peloton, which left Froome, Nibali and others to do some serious chasing. In the end, everbody got awarded the same time but it was a first indication of how strong the Spanish riders were this year. Although the time gaps didn’t admit it at that point yet, from the attitude and excitement of racing, this was meant to be a 1 vs. 1 duel between Valverde and Contador, and the next day looked to prove just that.
Classification After Stage 13
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
51h29'11
2
Daniel Moreno
Team Katusha
+ 39
3
Alberto Contador
Tinkoff - Saxo
+ 48
4
Daniel Martin
Garmin Sharp
+ 51
5
Bauke Mollema
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'04
6
Roman Kreuziger
Tinkoff - Saxo
+ 1'07
7
Chris Froome
Team Sky
+ 1'13
8
Michał Kwiatkowski
Omega Pharma - Quick•Step Cycling Team
+ 1'35
9
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana Pro Team
+ 2'37
10
Chris Horner
Lampre - Merida
+ 2'56
The stage to Plateu de Beille saw Spilak win the stage out of the breakaway clearly ahead of Coppel and Thomas, however the real fight was a little way down the road, where Valverde distanced all his competitors. Only Horner managed to hold on for a bit, but he lost eventually time as well. Contador’s countless attacks proved fruitless, just as Froome must have been playing a bit the waiting game. Both lost 40 seconds on Valverde, while Contador at least distanced the Briton in the finale sprint a bit. After stage 14, there had been a massive overhaul in the General Classification. Guys like Moreno, Martin and Kwiatkowski lost quite some time onto Valverde, however the battle for yellow was still intense with 8 riders up to roughly 3 minutes gap.
Third Week
Contador’s myriad attacks against the Movistar stronghold
The third week delivered exactly that what everybody was hoping for: A true show of excitement and constant, heartfelt racing at its best. It delivered one of the reasons what’s so engaging about racing, and it was the duel between two of Spain’s greatest cyclists and sportsmen: Alejandro Valverde against Alberto Contador. Both of were capable riders and had a fantastic team to support them. For Contador, there was Kreuziger, and Quintana was this year entirely riding in support of Valverde.
Contador launched significant attacks already on stage 16 and stage 17. Hilly routes, that didn’t particularly suit him, but nonetheless he tried it alongside Mollema and Martin over and over again. Although Valverde merely just reached Group Contador on the finish to Pinerolo, Froome and others lost considerable time (about a minute) to Valverde, Contador, Mollema and Martin, which put the 4 contenders into a welcome position ahead of the tough mountain stages.
Stage 18 up to the Galibier was a true triumph for the French, as Bardet won the stage and his countrymen Barguil and Bagot rounded off a the podium. A lot of B’s for France there. Contador also finally gained some time onto Valverde in a significant, tough mountain stage and reduced his gap to under a minute by taking roughly 30 seconds.
The next day saw a further boost in confidence for Contador. He took the legendary stage of Alpe d’Huez and finally won on this turf. However, merely 18 seconds gained onto Valverde might not have been enough there. Surprisingly, Wiggins finished second after spending much time in the Break of the day!
Ahead of the hilly, 41 km long Time Trial around Grenoble, there was quite some anxiety felt. Not only in Spain though, which seemed to divide itself into two parts. One half cheering for Valverde, the other for Contador. Both were only 36 seconds away from each other, and the big question was if Contador may reach old Time Trial heights or if Valverde can prevail? There was also another fight going on: Bauke Mollema was 14 seconds ahead of Froome ahead of that Time Trial. Under normal circumstances, the Dutch should lose his podium place, but what’s normal at le Tour?
Things looked to stay steady, as Tony Martin utterly burned the road early on, but saw later a victory of Wiggins. Later on, Mollema was merely 3 seconds behind Froome at the first intermediate, and 2 seconds at the second. The Dutch surely had the form here. Surprisingly Contador lost time onto Valverde, and maybe the rider from Tinkoff Credit Systems must have powered himself out too much up the climbs of Galibier and Alpe d’Huez. He came in eventually 7 seconds behind Valverde over the finish, while Mollema lost 10 seconds onto Froome, which meant: The Dutch finishes off the podium at le Tour by just 4 seconds!
The peloton truly deserved its ride through the sunset of Paris on the last stage, which saw once more a victory of Mark Cavendish. Peter Sagan once more finished second.
Stage
Name
Team
Leader’s Jersey
REST DAY
-
-
-
15, FL
Mark Cavendish
Omega Pharma
Alejandro Valverde
16, HL
Tanel Kangert
Astana
Alejandro Valverde
17, HL
Philippe Gilbert
BMC
Alejandro Valverde
18, MT (MTF)
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
Alejandro Valverde
19, MT (MTF)
Alberto Contador
Tinkoff Saxo
Alejandro Valverde
20, HL TT
Bradley Wiggins
SKY
Alejandro Valverde
21, FL
Mark Cavendish
Omega Pharma
Alejandro Valverde
Le Tour saw the reemergence of Spain as the number one Grand Tour nation after two previous british victories. Valverde fulfilled his dream after a stellar season so far, while Contador has confirmed that he’s back after a stagnant campaign in 2013. Giro winner Chris Froome narrowly lost out on the podium and must have been feeling the legs from Italy sometimes, while Bauke Mollema delivered a surprise by claiming 3rd and causing a true Tour-Mania in the Netherlands.
Tour de France 2014 winner:
Alejandro Valverde
Points Clas.:
Peter Sagan
Mountain Clas.:
Alejandro Valverde
Young Rider Clas.:
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team Clas.:
Tinkoff - Saxo
Ceremony Pictures
Spoiler
For Cannondale, there wasn’t much on the bright side. Some breakaway attempts in the second and third week, where too little to claim more than one stage win. Of course, that one was achieved by Sagan, who fulfilled his goal of claiming another green jersey. However, that’s not quite enough for our aspirations and surely the team management had secretly hoped a bit more; either one or two more stage wins or a good General Classification showing by Caruso. However, Caruso just made the Top 25 by a few seconds ahead of Ten Dam, which is overall a bit disappointing.
After the Tour de France, it’s time for me to start racing again. What changed you may ask? Well, I gained some kilos in order to be better and more competitive on the cobblestones and have some extra power on long, cold stages and especially for those moments when I attack. Honestly, I made some huge progress over the first part of the season and I hope to continue it in the second half. Of course my victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen was quite a boost for my morale and I’m still happy with it, but this is only the start of things. If you are interested, here's my schedule:
27. Jul
Clasica San Sebastian
28. Jul
Trofeo Matteotti
04. Aug
RideLondon-Surrey Classic
12-18. Aug
Eneco Tour
21. Aug
Coppa Agostoni
22. Aug
Coppa Bernocchi
23. Aug
Tre Valli Varesine
31. Aug
Giro del Veneto
01. Sep
GP Ouest France Plouay
15.-22 Sep.
Tour of Britain
02. Okt
Milano-Torino
04. Okt
Giro del Piemonte
06. Okt
Giro di Lombardia
10. Okt
Coppa Sabatini
12. Okt
Giro dell'Emilia
15. Okt
Giro della Romagna
16. Okt
Coppa Placci
I’ll focus my training right now on getting some much needed punch on hills and climbs. We have some great coaches here and I’m sure I can get a few nice results along the way.
Meanwhile, there’s also some great news concerning my contract: Cannondale has offered some more money and they agreed to a certain clause, you might want to know of: I have full freedom to participate in any CX events I wish for. Certainly, this came as a reaction to the advances Sagan and Team Sky made towards me in the last couple of weeks.
Yes, you heard right: Peter Sagan signed with Team Sky, and he wanted me to follow him. However, I doubt I’ll be riding CX over there in Britain, so I preferred to stay with Cannondale.
So, I don’t know about you guys, but that sounds good to me. CX, and add to that a salary of 7k per month, and I’m quite motivated for the new season already. On top of that, I’ll have more chances of riding for my own goals and achievements, which is a nice thing I might add.
See you in Basque country!
Edited by Shonak on 04-04-2014 10:03
These are some big news in the story! It's great that Raphael didn't follow Sagan. He now has alot of space for himself, as he'll surely lead the Cannondale on COB races and CX races aswell.
Alot of 1-day Italian Classics for Raphael there (I remember you said you love them and you certainly do, according to this calendar)! Good luck in Basque country!
yeah for no more sagan
time to show him that the student has become the master (unless sagan didn't learn him anything, in that case to show him that you are better then him )
